~orange blossoms~

Yesterday as we started the 16 hour drive to Mesa for Christmas, Damon said, "We get to smell the orange blossoms again" I got really homesick and my excitement for Christmas with our families grew exponentially. I'll admit. I really am not liking Houston too much. It hasn't really felt like Christmas. No friends to invite over, no Christmas goodies delivered to the door, it just felt pretty bleak.. Houston is what it is. And we will make do. But the promise of Orange Blossoms and family made it finally feel like Christmas, and made me think of why Christmas is so special. Its about family traditions, friends, and celebrating the birth of our Savior.

To all of our friends and family spread far and wide, we love you, we miss you, and we hope that the sweet spirit of Christmas is in your life.

Merry Christmas!

xoxo

Rach

Home, Sweet Home

Apart from the last post, I have not updated the blog on how its going down here in Houston.

The kids are doing great. Zoey is really thriving at school. Her new school is not as aggressive as TICA, but in some way, she is doing better here and her curiosity is peaked. She is soaking up everything like a sponge. She has made a little friend in Abby, who she played with all Thanksgiving day and they are in Primary together. She is doing really well, and now knows not to tell people that Mom and Dad slap her. (Since that whole fiasco, she has come home twice saying that her teacher hit her because she didn't like her shirt. Gotta love five year olds.) Liam is my little buddy during the day. Zoey is gone basically from 8 to 4 every day, and our house is very quiet. Liam is still a little copycat, and is in love with the movie 'UP', that grandma so kindly bought for them when she came to visit.

Damon is totally rocking it out at his new job as the boss man. I am really excited to meet his team, and host the Christmas Party.

I am adjusting fairly well, and have made a few friends here. I went to see New Moon with the group of gals from the ward, and they are all really great and welcoming. We have been looking at building a home, and also at some re-sales in the area. I am liking Cypress, TX a lot, if we get the right house. There is still so much research to be done I don't know where we will end up, but at least we have a start, right? Texas is its own animal. Here are a few observations I have made.

Texas is very flat.

Texas houses are really REALLY cheap

Texas food usually revolves around a smoker and a deep fryer, and some BBQ sauce

Texas strip malls are rarely without a donut shop, a taqueria, a Vietnamese nail place, a Hispanic hair place that charges 3.99 for a hair cut, and a Tai place

Texans are big into trucks.

Texas people (in general) are Rubenesque

Everything is bigger in Texas is a very true statement.

Texas is lacking in health food stores. The entire Houston metro area has 2 (thats it, 2) Whole Food Stores

Texans are extremely friendly

Texas has its own section of merchandise at Bed, Bath and Beyond.

Wal-Mart rules in Texas. (and Sam's Club. Costco only has 3 here. I have given over to the dark side and got a Sam's Club membership)

Texas is its own little world.

But we are making it our little world. I bought some Salt and Pepper shakers that have a wroght iron texas star on them.

(I will post more on Thanksgiving, and photos of the house in a few days.)

24 hours

24 hours go by and usually are uneventful. But this is most likely the worst 24 hours I have ever had.

I got a call from the school counselor. About Zoey. She first asked if Zoey was a foster child. I replied, "No?" Then she said Zoey had told both her and her teacher that both Damon and I had slapped her. Also that she had said that I was a mean mommy. She proceeded to explain that Zoey had said that she had a new Mommy and Daddy and Grandma, and that she thought that Daddy was nice, Liam was nice, and Grandma was nice, but Mommy was mean. I explained to her that we had just moved to Houston, that everything was new in Zoey's life, even up to the car we drove. She was not only adjusting from the HUGE move, but also from half day to full day kindergarden. That wasn't good enough explanation, and she said that she was going to interview Zoey tomorrow, and if she said the same things, that she was going to call CPS.

I lost it. Sobbing. She took it as an admission of guilt. She ended the conversation with "Have a nice day!"

Just the mere accusation of slapping my child was so unfounded and false, but now I felt like I was a convicted felon. I have never been so disrespected in my life. And I have never felt so helpless. I know no one here. I have no one to call. The closest relatives we have live 8 hours form away.

Damon was out in San Antonio training a rep. I was alone. I called him, I called my Mom, I called my Mom-in-Law, I called my uncle Scott. All of whom gave wonderful and unique advise. My uncle Scott is a school psychologist, and gave the best advice on how to handle it. Be Aggressive. Damon drove home and we put together a game plan. We were at the school at 8 AM the next morning ready to talk to the teacher, counselor, and the principal. I had on my game face. Or so I thought. The principal was not in for 2 days so we first talked to the assistant principal. I got in there and started to explain the situation. Things were going well until the counselor came in. She came in, repeated what Zoey had told her, and then was silent. Did not tell us the questions she asked Zoey, did not explain why she thought we were abusing her. Just sat there staring at us with her toad like body and beady eyes. I lost it. I was so upset. I reamed her in front of her boss. Letting her know she isn't a thorough counselor, and that I knew she was "just doing her job", but not in the correct manner. Threatening CPS on the phone before meeting me, or calling her old school, or our pediatrician in Colorado to see if there were any complaints. Completely unfounded. She didn't even know Zoey had been at the school for 4 days. We left getting no where, and still facing that jaded troll of a woman questioning our daughter with no supervision. She wouldn't even allow the session to be recorded.

We got home and I fell completely apart. I thought I had done that before, but this was something completely different. I was living my reoccurring nightmare of my children being dragged away from me by some black force and I am paralyzed, can't move, talk, breathe. Totally helpless watching my kids taken. Then my Mom and Damon gave me some tough love and the real game face came out. I needed to be strong for Zoey. I needed to protect my daughter, and the gloves are comin' off. I honestly didn't know I could be that strong. My Mom talked to Scott and he told us to go to the big wigs. The Superintendent and the Head of the Psychology department, and the school psychologist. I was calm. I was precise. I did it. It worked. And they all wanted the name of the counselor (most common response? "Oh yeah, she's new), and apologized up and down for the CPS threat. Dr. Horton (the big wig) told me that there isn't any warrant for a CPS report, and that it should have never been brought up. I talked to her at 2:30 pm. By the time I picked her up at 3:40, Damon got a phone call with a profusely apologetic assistant principal, telling us that they are not investigating the matter further, and the second meeting with Zoey is not necessary.

Its over. I can breathe. Zoey is good. We are working on telling the truth.

Like I said. Worst 24 hours ever.

Welcome to Texas.

Kansas

yyeeeaaahhhh, I'll pass on that one...



(Damons company gives him an aircard. Its AWESOME. I am blogging from his laptop in the car outside salida, kansas. So cool.)

Phew!

We are out of the house. Its packed, cleaned, and empty. HUGE thanks to Monique and JD, who spent all weekend helping us move and clean, and another BIG thanks for all the help from the ward.

We leave Wednesday for Katy, Texas.

I can't believe its finally here. The kids are excited and Zoey tells everyone we are moving to "TEXAS!" She is happy about the prospect of having a pool.

Texas, here we come!

Family Photo Sneak Peak

the saddest sight ever seen

...sigh

so I wore my favorite pair that was visible


then I gave Liam a bath

he is so cute.

H1N1

Zoey is sick. H1N1 has made his ugly apperance at our home. Everyone else is healthy, but Zoey is on her third day of a fever. I think today will be the worst day.

moving=getting organized

For the past 3 years all of my photos, both personal and business, have been scattered across 3 different computers.



No More.



They are all neatly organized in one external hard drive, by year. All professional work is organized into categories, then by year.



Almost a terabyte of data.



Now I am going to take a hammer to my Most Awful Computer (MAC) and then light it on fire.



Boo-Ya

The Changing of the Seasons.

Last Fall in Colorado


That makes me unbelievably sad. So we are enjoying it to the fullest. Don't get me wrong, I am really excited about Texas, but we have lived here almost 4 years, the majority of our married life , and it really feels like home to me now. I think I am going to take our family photos tomorrow, and celebrate the beauty of the mountains that we live in. They are breathtaking. I will miss them.

We had the Peterson's over for breakfast Sunday to watch conference and eat quiche. I made it. It had a pound of bacon in it. It was delish. The kids had a hay day with the boxes of styrofoam packing peanuts in the basement.

After the AM session of General Conference, Damon left for a meeting with his team in Austin, and I went up to the mountains to see the fall colors with Kelly and her sister Tracy's family. We hiked up to this meadow with a stream running through it. It was so beautiful, even though we missed the peak by about a week. I can't imagine the colors we missed. Fall is so fleeting. I did manage to get some beautiful photos of the kids and the mountains. I am shocked that no one fell in the stream. They 'fished' with pretend fishing poles, threw rocks in the stream, and zoey painted rocks with a 'brush'. Zoey has been learning about plants and how they grow in kindergarten, and with Kelly's brother in law Mark telling her all about it while we hiked, she is now obsessed with finding acorns (really, they are pine cones) and planting trees. At every little tree she would yell "MOM!! I FOUND A BABY TREE!!! ITS SO CUTE!!! The kids did great hiking about 1 1/2 miles total, which Zoey did in a skirt and pom pom boots. Kelly's nephew Marcus was carrying her on his shoulders and she told him, "Can I ride someone elses head?"

Marcus: "Why? Is my head not cool anymore?"

Zoey: "Yes. I want to ride his head." Pointing to Mark.

He carried her the rest of the way talking about how the trees grow. We really had a great time.

Photo by Tracey, Kelly's sister. It is so nice to have me in some photos.

It was a perfect way to spend a Sunday .

Potty Patrol

Like I said earlier, Liam is OBSESSED with the potty.

He has a sixth sense. If he suspects you of using the facilities, he will scream, "POOT!" and run to the bathroom to observe. Now, when I say observe, I mean squat down so he can see if he can get a better view. Sometimes he even tries to move you. Its awkward, to say the least. Zoey tries to be nice, and says, "Liam, please go out. Shut the door, you're buggin' me." Sometimes he obliges, most of the time, he doesn't. Then its the screaming from the bathroom. "MOOOOOMMMMM!!!!! LIAM IS NOT LETTING ME BE MODEST!!!!!!" When you finish, he starts the potty dance. Hopping around the bathroom yelling, "YAY POOT! YAY POOT!"

Now its a race to get to the bathroom and lock the door before he gets there. 2 year old boys are so much fun...

Wedding Day

(consolidating and organizing photos seem tedious until you run across a photograph like this)

This and That

Its has been a long while since I have done and update on the kids.

Zoey is in Kindergarten and loving it. She had her first progress report and she is excelling in all areas except she loves to chit chat during class. I was not surprised. Zoey is a favorite in the class and she gets a class full of "BYE ZOEY!!! SEE YOU TOMORROW!!!" She is really loving it and she has learned so much already. Her and Liam are entering the 'love/hate' stage of their relationship. They love to play together and can be seen playing monster, or singing a variety of songs. They also hate each other, yelling and screaming if one gets to close, or if one looks at the other a certain way, or is stinky... the reason doesn't matter, its the screaming and yelling that is the bulk of it.

Photo by my bro Cody. Playing in grandmas back yard

Zoey has had some really good one liners lately too

If you ask a question she will start her answer with ''Well..." Like Max calling from Latvia when we picked him up asked how old Liam was, and she replied "Well, two or one."

We were on the plane and I was doing the crossword in the coloring book the flight attendant gave us, and she looks at me and says, very slowly, "Mom... that's for children..."

Her school has a lot of character development and moral sayings, and the latest is "I will make good choices and I will grow from my mistakes". I made the mistake of saying it wrong. I said 'learn from my mistakes" She corrected me saying "Mom, you said it wrong. Its "I will GROW from my mistakes." Then she looked at me and said, "Mom, I hope you will grow from this mistake."

Damon called her a cutie patootie. She had a full on melt down, ran to me and said "MOM!!! DAD CALLED ME A TOOTIE!!! I AM NOT A TOOTIE! HE NEEDS TO GO TO TIME OUT!!!"

We still have not got her totally convinced that cutie patootie is a good thing.

Liam is a copy cat. Thus all the fighting lately. He will mimic Zoey in any and everything she does. He will say anything, and his language is miles ahead of where Zoey was at the same age. Its so fun to have a baby who preforms. (most of the time) We have made some new friends in the ward and Liam is in love with JD. As soon as they come in, Liam bestows the ultimate honor on JD, giving him Dot to hold.

Liam the bobble head at the go cart race track

Now this is cool. I think Liam will be potty trained very soon. He will find me and demand to be changed if he is wet or if he poops, he will take off his shoes, pants and diaper and then not move and scream "i poot!! i poot!" until I find him and take care of it. He got McQueen pull ups and will show you them proudly if you ask.

He loves dot, thomas the train, his mommy, and food. But never at meal times.

They are the best kids in the whole wide world.

(transferring all my photos to one source I have run into some really great old photos of the kids. This one Liam is 3 days old)

The 411

This is the big news that we have actually known about for a month but have not been able to announce for a myriad of reasons. (mainly dealing with Damon's company and such)

drum roll please.........


DAMON GOT PROMOTED!!!!!!!!


he is now the incredibly good looking District Manager for DEY L.P. in


second drumroll please..........


HOUSTON, TEXAS

(this is the Houston, Texas Temple. Its in Spring, TX, where we will most likely live.)


We are moving the first week in November.

I can not describe how nice it is to know where we are going to be.

I already bought a pair of slouchy cowboy boots that are amazing.


Congrats to my exceptionally business savvy husband. You are amazing.

Larainy Days

My beautiful Mother is blogging.  She is really good.  She has written a few short stories, and even a young adult novel. You all should go and read and follow and comment, since no one is commenting on my blog (sarcastic glare at all of you out there)

My Jetsetting Mom. Shown here in Riga, Latvia

Larainy Days  click and prepare to be entertained.

St. Petersburg/Petrograd/Leningrad

Did you know that St. Petersburg was called 2 other names at some point in history? Me either.

THE HIGHLIGHTS.

Flight from Moscow to St. Petersburg.

They didn't even check my passport. Not Once. Boo. I don't know why but carrying that makes me feel soo cool.

They serve you breakfast for a one hour flight. A croissant no less. With a banana and OJ. Suddenly peanuts and a child size pop look even more lame than they did before.

SERGEI- Our Russian guide and driver. He is amazing at his job, and makes American patriotism look like child's play. Russian Pride all the way. He loved taking jabs at the US at any opportunity, and also did it in that nice way. Ya know, the way where some one us saying it nice but really insulting you? Yeah. It was a love/annoyed relationship. We also learned from Sergei that even though nearly EVERYTHING, from the Winter Palace to the Peterhof, was a replica of the original, it was, in fact, still original, because of one reason or another that makes sense only if you are Russian. I think the criteria was if it had something in it from the original than that makes the whole thing original. The second day he warmed up to us and even smiled revealing braces. He is also quite a gentleman. Always helping me up the stairs and telling me my camera lens isn't quite clean...

SERGEI. He is quite the guide...

Hermitage and Winter Palace- Amazing and yet slightly underwhelmed. I mean, Sergei was disappointed when we insisted on Dutch and Flemish art instead of the Renaissance art, but can you blame us? 27 (yes 27) Rembrandt. And Van Dykes, and Rubens. All behind glass. ?????? AND ya know how museums are usually strictly controlled? Light, humidity, temperature ect. Nyet. If a room was too hot, they opened a window. There was so special lighting. You were looking at PRICELESS works of art and you had to position yourself so you cold actually see the painting through the glare on the glass from the OPEN window. Weird. But if you go. Don't miss it. Just to see the Winter Palace is worth it.

The grand staircase in the Winter Palace. Old guy not included.

THE WINTER PALACE

Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood- weird name, I know. Alexander the Second (?) had is legs blown off by a terrorist. They built a memorial to that. What is really impressive was the interior. Every inch of the floor and ceiling was completely covered in mosaic scenes from the bible. Unbelievable. This was Damon's favorite place in Russia

Yes. All of that is mosaics. Every inch.

The outside of the church. at least part of it.

We also saw many palaces that nobles lived in and even saw where the Stroganoffs lived. Yes. I know. They invented beef Stroganoff. Thank you Stroganoff Family. I give due credit to you. Here I was thanking Betty Crocker all these years... (Anything of minute historical significance like that is now restored and made into a museum.)

MUSHROOM PEROGI IS THE BOMB. I wish I had a picture to show you.

Cathrine's Palace was crowded and looked like King Midas had been there. Everything was gold. The famous Amber Room is also here. I didn't take many photos because I though the whole thing was in bad taste.

GRAND BALLROOM.
Royal booties. I am halfway shocked they didn't have gold ones for us.

This photo isn't a mistake. Short people have a disadvantage. And I am not looking in a mirror either. All those doorways are different rooms. And they all have gold everywhere.

The best part of the whole thing was a little hole in the wall blini place. Russian cottage cheese is different. Its really creamy and smooth, but still firm, and with some honey and apricots in a blini it was to die for.

BEHOLD, THE PETERHOF

That is all one building. All of it. One. I have been there and I still can't believe it.

This is my favorite thing in Russian, besides the cottage cheese and apricot blini and the cream of mushroom soup.

VIEW FROM THE BACK OF THE PETERHOF. all the fountains are natural. No pumps. not one.

I can't even begin to describe this place. Even in all its excessiveness, I found it to be so beautiful. Damon made Sergei sooo mad by guessing all three names of the fountains that people get wrong. "YOU READ!!!! YOU KNOW!!! ADMIT IT!!!"

My smarty pants husband. He looks like he could take some one out in this photo. His co-workers even call him "The Asset"

After the Peterhof, Sergei dropped us off and we walked up and down Nevsky Prospekt, looking for dinner. We (not really sure how) ended up at this CRAPPY hole complete with black light above each table, techno music, and a tiny tea light candle, for ambiance, of course. We were in a rush, and had to ketch our train and they took an eternity to get our food out to us, so we got it to go and ran to the VOXALL (train station) This is where I stop this post. The Russian Trains deserve a post all their own.

The Real World

I. Love. This.


Love him or hate him , he sure hits the nail on the head with this!
Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.


Rule 1 : Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2 : The world doesn't care about your Self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss

Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6 : If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault , so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7 : Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8 : Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9 : Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10 : Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11 : Be nice to nerds. Chances are you' ll end up working for one.


Well said.

DONE

I am done editing the photos from the trip. All 14 GB, 1472 photos. I promise I will post more soon.

Moscow

(I am posting what I wrote in my journal, sorry if it is a bit 'travel-log-y')

August 15th, 2009

We are on the plane. To RUSSIA!! I honestly can say that I didn't think this trip would happen, but here we are! I find myself totally excited, tired, saying many silent prayers for my little ones, and relishing in the fact that I have 10 days with my husband with out children. I don't know what to do with myself.

Damon is quite in his element. The flight is almost full and there are Russians everywhere and its like watching a little boy in a candy shop, speaking Russian every chance he gets. In fact, he totally ignored me the first 45 minutes of the plane trip talking to the absolutely gorgeous Russian woman sitting next to him. I pretended I wasn't bugged. It didn't work.

I have never been on a plane this big. I think we have 10 hours left. We met Mom and Dad in Atlanta, and now they are right across from us. Dad and I laughed out loud at the safety video Delta shows. The woman has had EVERYTHING worked on and way too much collagen in the lips. However, the best part is the chubby, middle-aged, balding guy who shows you how to inflate the life vest, complete with the orbit *ding* and a smile. We laughed out loud. We are so the obnoxious Americans.

I miss my babies a lot.

August 16th, 2009-Somewhere over Scandinavia

I really don't like long plane trips. We will land in Moscow in about two hours. I will have slept a total of 5 hours in 18, and it will be 11 AM in Moscow when we land. I think we will have to go almost 28 hours before we can sleep. I really don't like long plane trips.

Damon looks really cute when he sleeps.

August 16th, 2 pm?

We made it to Moscow, almost died 9 times in the taxi on the way to Kent's home. I am cleaned, scrubbed, brushed teeth, and fresh make-up. Ahhh, so much better. We are meeting Damon's friend Andre in Kent's private car with a driver in an hour. Yes. That's right. We have a driver. Hooray for Chevron Execs!!

Before we go I had to write about

RUSSIAN YOGURT(silly giggle)

Ya know that baby yogurt that is made with whole milk? Take that, multiply that by a thousand, and add some heavy whipping cream, and then you have a glimpse into the delicious world of Russian Yogurt. They even have chocolate varieties. It is unbelievably amazingly, ridiculously good. We are going to have to buy more to replace Kent's supply.

We went to Ismailovski Park. It is an outdoor market where the best souvenirs are sold. Everything from hand painted pottery, lacquer boxes, matroshka dolls, antiques, and food. Namely Plov. Delish. Its this beef fried rice thing with veggies, and even my Dad liked it. I am craving it again. I did buy a beautiful 14 piece blue and white matroshka doll. The smallest doll is about the size of a grain of rice. Pavel, our driver took us and Andre helped us haggle/laugh/have a great time. He is head of public affairs for the Church in Russia. Pretty cool. I took some photos and Mom and Dad left empty handed?

There were probably 100 booths just like this one.

The sign above says "History of Vodka Museum, open 11-7" Awesome.

Plov

After the market, we went to Christ our Savior church. It is a colossal white marble church with gold minarets. It was built in 2000, so it is really new and really breathtaking. You could see the Kremlin from the bridge leading to it.

I am so tired. I love Zoey and Liam and miss them more than I can say.

Christ our Savior Church

D on the bridge. Doesn't he look great.

View from the bridge. That whole thing is the Kremlin.

August 17th, 2009

Today I am celebrating my 26th Birthday. In Moscow. Boo-ya.

I have to say that this trip has been a huge series of blessings. We are able to afford it, for one. My parents are here. I get to spend a lot of time with my Dad and he CAN'T go in to work. Annie and Ashley were able to watch the kids, who are doing great. Kent has a US phone line, so we are able to call the kids anytime, with no cost. We have a driver, which we didn't expect. We have been so blessed, and we get to see Max in 3 days.

Today we are going to Red square, the Tsaritsyno, Moscow University, and Arbat Street. We are meeting Kent at a Gorgian Restaurant to celebrate my Birthday.

August 17th, 2009. 11 PM

I. AM. EXHAUSTED.

We started at the Tsaritsyno. There are no words. I mean, really. Whoever coined the phrase "Everything is bigger in Texas" CLEARLY has never been to Russia. IT IS HUGE. This is the main house, but there were 8 other separate buildings to go along with this modest summer palace. We took a stroll through "The Royal Woods". I could have stayed there all day.

Did I tell you or did I tell you. This is a little distorted, I had to merge two frames together. My 17mm Wide Angle lens still needed 2 full frames to capture the enormity of this place.

The bridge to the palace.

The Royal Woods.

From there we went to Moscow University (apologies, I am not posting those photos) From there we went to this lookout where we could see 6 of the 7 sisters (buildings Stalin built to show off communist macho-ism) They were easy to spot. Dad and I were in need of a pop. We walked to the kiosks and bought "coke light" in pretend size bottles. I think Russians would be disgusted at the size of our sodas over here.

Moscow is a massive city. 15 million people. Just had to record that.

We went to the first McDonald's in Russia. I never eat there but we did in Russia. Mom got busted for videoing the inside. We laughed. Because we don't have these at home? I kept the place mat. I think it is so cool to see things that are so ordinary but so different. AND they're LARGE drinks here are the same size as the kids size in the US.

I love that it is something ordinary made so different.

It tasted the same. Except we had to pay for ketchup.

RED SQUARE

Probably the most tourist-y spot in Russia.

St. Basil's. So beautifully unique. In fact, Ivan the Terrible had the architects eyes gouged out so that he could never build another one. We went inside and Mom and I got a little claustrophobic. Apparently Russian Orthodox think Christ was incredibly skinny, all the depictions of him had his ribs showing. The entire inside is painted with frescos or murals. Damon and I came into a crowded room where a choir was singing, and this babushka started yelling at Damon to take the backpack off, over and over in rapid succession, and then Damon yelled in Russian, "I Heard!" It probably would have gone un-noticed but it happened right as the choir finished a song. Heads turned. Damon carried the backpack the rest of the time.

RED SQUARE. Kremlin is to your left. Saint Basil's is behind you.

The group.

SO. Anyways. Lenin's Tomb was closed. Apparently he is getting harder and harder to preserve. They have to rub stuff directly on his skin now. Really relieved I didn't have to see that.

Russian women are so skinny. They were parading around the square in their skin tight skinny jeans and sky high stilettos. I felt like I needed to either change my outfit or starve myself for the rest of the trip.

Mom and I taking a breather after deciding we didn't have enough time to see inside the Kremlin.

Arbat street is really cool. I guess its kinda like the 9th street mall in Denver, but cooler. For my birthday we had a street painter paint a our favorite photo of the kids. It turned out amazing. Damon begged and begged to have my portrait done, so I caved. It actually turned out really nice. Me on my 26th Birthday.

Kent met us at the restaurant. Everything was delish and covered in fresh dill. This cream of mushroom soup was divine. Probably because it was made with real cream...

I feel asleep in the car on the way home.